Sombrilla

The University of Texas at San Antonio Online Magazine

Meet the Coaches

Larry Coker
Head Coach

Larry Coker was named the first
head coach in UTSA football
history on March 6, 2009.

The Okemah, Okla., native came
to UTSA after spending two seasons
as a college football analyst for ESPN.
Prior to that, Coker arguably was
one of the nation’s top head coaches
from 2001 to 2006 at the University of
Miami.

He posted a 60–15 record (.800
winning percentage) in his six seasons,
including wins in his first 24 games,
and led the Hurricanes to the 2001
National Championship in his first
season, becoming just the second
coach in NCAA history to do so and
the first in 53 years.

Coker was a two-time National Coach
of the Year (2001–2002), American
Football Coaches Association Region
Coach of the Year (2001, 2005) and Big
East Coach of the Year (2001–2002)
honoree.

He led the Hurricanes to a pair of
Bowl Championship Series title game
appearances, three BCS bowl games,
a total of six bowl contests overall and
three consecutive Big East Conference
Championships from 2001 to 2003
during his tenure.

Coker has coached 26 first-team
All-Americans and 96 first-team
all-conference picks during his career
and also mentored 73 student-athletes
who earned academic all-conference
accolades. In fact, his 2005 team
graduated all 21 players, a total higher
than any other program in the country,
and the Hurricanes’ 84-percent
graduation rate a year earlier was far
higher than the national average. His
teams annually were honored for their
excellence in the classroom by the
AFCA.

Coker has been successful in every
stop of his 36-year coaching career,
including 22 seasons as an assistant
at the collegiate level. He has been on
college teams that have made a total of
18 bowl appearances and those squads
have been victorious 14 times.

He served as Miami’s offensive
coordinator and quarterbacks coach
from 1995 to 2000 and the Hurricanes
won all four of their bowl games during
that time.

Prior to his arrival at Miami,
Coker was an assistant at Ohio State
(1993–1994), Oklahoma (1990–1992),
Oklahoma State (1983–1989) and Tulsa
(1979–1983).

He graduated with a bachelor’s
degree in history from Northeastern
(Okla.) State University in 1970 and
earned his master’s in guidance
counseling and physical education
three years later from the same school.

Coker and his wife, Dianna, are the
parents of a daughter, Lara, and the
grandparents of twin boys, Daniel and
Dillon.

Travis Bush
Assistant Coach (Offensive Coordinator/
Quarterbacks)

A rising star in the offensive coaching ranks, Travis
Bush was hired in January 2010 as offensive coordinator
at UTSA. He also will tutor the program’s
quarterbacks.

Bush came to UTSA from Texas State, where he
completed his sixth season overall and third season as
the associate head coach, co-offensive coordinator and
quarterbacks coach at his alma mater in 2009.

Bush began his coaching career at San Marcos High
School where he tutored the Rattlers’ quarterbacks,
running backs and special teams.

From 2001 to 2003, Bush was a graduate assistant
coach at TCU, working with the Horned Frogs’ offensive
line.

Bush graduated from Gregory-Portland High School
in 1995, where he was a UIL 4A all-state quarterback. He
moved on to Texas State, lettering four seasons as a wide
receiver. He was also awarded the J.C. Kellam Award
in 1999, which honors Texas State’s most outstanding
senior football student-athlete.

Bush graduated from Texas State in 2000 with a
bachelor’s degree in exercise and sports science and
holds teaching certificates in mathematics and physical
education. He earned a master’s degree in education
administration from TCU in 2003. He and his wife, Diana,
have two sons, Treyson and Tyler.

Neal Neathery
Assistant Coach (Defensive Coordinator/
Linebackers)

A 17-year coaching veteran, Neal Neathery was hired in
March 2010 as UTSA’s defensive coordinator. He also
will tutor the program’s linebackers.

Neathery comes to UTSA from Drake, where he served as
assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers
coach from 2008 to 2009.

He was the associate head coach at Wabash College
from 2001 to 2007 and was named the American Football
Coaches Association NCAA Division III Assistant Coach of
the Year in 2007.

A 1993 graduate of Wheaton (Ill.) College, where he
was a four-year starter at defensive end from 1989 to 1993,
Neathery served as a captain his senior year. He earned the
James Parmalee Most Respected Player Award.

The Stillwater, Okla., native earned his bachelor’s
degree in business/economics and Bible and theology from
Wheaton in 1993. He earned a master’s degree in health and
human performances from Fort Hayes State in 1995.

He and his wife, Rebecca, have three children: Parker,
Michael and Hannah.